Taking on the issues of politics to pop culture from one pissed off citizen who has had enough. - tpoc

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Gadgets, Gizmo's, Websites, & The Television.

The average 5 to 18 year old today has an attention span of about 10 minutes, with the years, it has been getting a lot worse.At first, people would blame the television, too much time watching t.v. and not enough time interacting.Then they blamed video games and so on and so forth. Blame everyone except the source, the parents.

Years ago, kids were actually kids. You'd go outside to the park, get dirty, break a thing or two, get scratched up, and goto sleep like a baby. Today, that doesn't apply. People are more tense, stressed out, constantly having something to do, even if it isn't that big of a deal.

Parents aren't even parents anymore, kids are doing tasks that parents can't even understand. ( downloading, browsing, etc. )Parents are so absorbed with their own tasks that instead of being parents or teaching their kids right from wrong, they have them do the things they told them once NOT to do, ( Play video games, go on the computer, etc. ) just so they can have alone time.

We now live in an age of social websites like Twitter, Myspace, Etc. To phone services such as the iphone & sidekicks. All great inventions and a must have for a lot of people, BUT, they keep you in a box. You really aren't as connected as you once were.People who use to see each other all the time, no longer do. People who use to go out to dinner, now send text messages saying hello. What once was an interaction of face to face, now is a ringing sound of an instant message.

We are talking to people all over the world but not seeing one of them. We are having a conversation with abbreviations and spell check to help. It is rare that today you will have an in-depth conversation with someone because their attention span has decreased so dramatically that they can't stay on the same subject without being distracted by one of their gadgets or gizmos one way or another.

We thought by buying these things that we would be able to do more in less time, what a joke that turned out to be.

Children don't see their parents, parents don't see their children. Meanwhile, everyone lives under one roof and no one talks to each other outside of their computers or gadgets.

The greatest writers, the founding fathers, the revolutionaries, and great minds all did the thing we can't stick to for more than 10 minutes.... READ.

I don't mean reading this blog or reading the latest magazine of whoever got caught eating a sandwich while spilling their soda and not knowing they are. I mean actually reading a novel of literature or history. To learn about why we are in the positions today that we are. The corporations and top people in charge of any country are happy about the individual staying ignorant, not able to join together but able to only talk on a message because they are too busy.

These things keep you ignorant and have you live for and in the moment and not think about the past, present, or future.

If you just think about when the last time it was that you actually spent time with your family or picked up a book ( outside of school ) I'm sure you're pondering it because it has been just that long.

We have become so self-absorbed to the point where, as long as our gadgets and gizmos work, the world can end tomorrow.

All these pills to cure so called " symptoms " of A.D.D. and Hypertension disorder, are only quick fixes to make believe symptoms. This strategy is no different than the smoker who smokes because it calms them down. The root of a lot of these symptoms is simple, do the things you once did or should do, be yourself again, not a text message.

Ask yourself this: When was the last time you read a book? When was the last time you researched about something that didn't involve something you have?

Do yourself and your children a favor, become a family again and shut off your stupid phone.